‘Miller was in turn, good, lucky and great, coolly holding up Buffalo’s slim lead through his teammates’ repeated attempts to hand it over to the Leafs by taking a long string of penalties. There were some lucky escapes – Dion Phaneuf and Phil Kessel hit crossbars and Nazem Kadri had a goal waved off when he jammed it in just after the whistle sounded – but for every one of those Miller made a couple of big saves.’

‘“We came in and we stole one,” Sabres defenseman Jordan Leopold said. “You look at the shot chart (35-20), you look at the opportunities. They probably had more than us. Millsie made some big saves, (provided a) big turning point for us. Yeah, we battled.”’

‘Kostka insists he holds no hard feelings toward the Sabres, however. “I was kind of the odd guy out that didn’t have a contract for the next year,” he said. “They needed to clear up space. They were like, ‘Thank you for what you’ve done, and we’re going to move forward.’”’

‘“Correct me if I’m wrong, but we lost a lot of different ways last year. We are just happy to have found a way to win and to get a good start was important. It is already going to have to be behind us. We’re just off and running and running and running. It’s going to be a tough season for everybody and you have to get your points while you can.”’

‘“The organization did a good job adding the players it did,” said Hodgson, referring to agitator Steve Ott and 6-foot-8 enforcer John Scott. “You need that type of physical personnel on a team, they were great additions that added to our overall toughness.”’